Soft, drapable nonwoven material

ABSTRACT

A soft drapable nonwoven material having good bi-directional strength-stretch characteristics which is especially suitable for a sanitary napkin wrapper is described. The material comprises a web of staple length fibers such as a carded web having a predominant direction of fiber orientation and a pattern of adhesive lines serving to unite the fibers together into a coherent nonwoven material. The adhesive lines are uniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientation and extend continuously across the web generally perpendicular to the direction of predominant fiber orientation. The adhesive lines are also disposed uniformly over the web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern with the crests pointed in the direction of fiber orientation. The pattern period, line amplitude, and line spacing are carefully selected to insure that as the web is strained in the direction perpendicular to that of original fiber orientation web rupture is avoided over elongations of at least about 25 percent.

United States Patent 1191 Duchane SOFT, DRAPABLE NONWOVEN MATERIAL [75 1Inventor: David V. Duchane, Menasha, Wis.

[73] Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Corporation,

Neenah, Wis.

22 Filed: Nov. 26, 1971 121 App]. No.: 202,183

52 us. c1. ..12s/290 w, 161/146 [58] Field of Search ..l28/l56, 284,287, 128/290, 296; 161/146 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,625,161 1/1953 Johnson ..l28/290 W 2,705,497 4/1955 Johnson et al....l28/290 W 2,705,498 4/1955 Johnson ..l28/290 W 2,833,283 5/1958 Spahret a1 v ..128/290 W 3,009,822 11/1961 Drelich et a1... ..16l/l463,088,463 5/1963 Harmon 128/290 W 3,616,131 10/1971 Hardick ..16l/146Apr. 17, 1973 Primary ExaminerCharles F. Rosenbaum Attorney-C. FrederickLeydig et: a1.

[ ABSTRACT A soft drapable nonwoven material having good bidirectionalstrength-stretch characteristics which is especially suitable for asanitary napkin wrapper is described. The material comprises a web ofstaple length fibers such as a carded web having a predominant directionof fiber orientation and a pattern of ad hesive lines serving to unitethe fibers together into a coherent nonwoven material. The adhesivelines are uniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientation andextend continuously across the web generally perpendicular to thedirection of predominant fiber orientation. The adhesive lines are alsodisposed uniformly over the web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern with the crests pointed in the direction of fiber orientation. Thepattern period, line amplitude, and line spacing are carefully selectedto insure that as the over elongations of at least about 25 percent.

' 17 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures SOFT, DRAPABLE NONWOVEN MATERIALDESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to thepreparation of soft, drapable, nonwoven materials having desirablestrength and stretch characteristics. More particularly, it relates tononwoven materials prepared from webs of staple length fibers which havea predominant direction of fiber orientation. The invention isespecially concerned with the preparation of adhesively bonded cardedwebs with good bi-directional strength and stretch characteristicsrendering them suitable for use as sanitary napkin covers and the like.

In recent years, many patents have issued directed to the adhesivebonding of nonwoven webs of staple length fibers such as those preparedby carding, garnetting or drafting. Examples of such patents include thefollowing: US. Pat. Nos. 2,039,312; 2,545,952; 2,705,687; 3,009,822; and3,484,330. Since such webs have a predominant direction of fiberorientation, the problem faced in bonding the webs to impart coherencyfor use in fabric-like applications has been to achieve sufficientstrength and stretch in the direction perpendicular to that ofpredominant fiber .orientation while all at the same time not givingrise to an undesirable web harshness or stiffness.

It is recognized that discontinuous techniques are generally useful inobtaining soft, drapable webs and fabric. Adhesive bonding patternssuggested include localizedspot bonds of various shapes, wavy orstraight lines of adhesive and diamond and herringbone patterns tomention a fewJHowever, many of the suggested approaches are notcompletely satisfactory in achieving good bi-directional strength andstretch characteristics in combination with web softness anddrapability. In addition, with adhesive patterns containing shortdiscontinuous lines, difficulties in accomplishing uniform printing ofthe adhesive onto the web have been noted, particularly when an intagliomethod is used and high printing speeds employed. With intaglio methods,difficulties have been encountered in achieving rapid and uniformadhesive-transfer from the print roll depressions to the web. As aresult,

the pattern of adhesive printed on the web is not sharply defined, andthis can detract from the webs' softness, drapability, and strengthcharacteristics.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention toprovide a soft, drapable adhesively bonded nonwoven material of staplelength fibers having a predominant direction of fiber orientation whichpossesses good strength and stretch characteristics in both thedirection of orientation and the direction perpendicular thereto.

A closely related object is to provide a' material having theabove-recited characteristics wherein the adhesive can be rapidlyprinted onto the unbonded web by intaglio techniques to give a sharplydefined adhesive print pattern.

A further object resides in providing absorbent sanitary pads having, asa .cover, a web possessing the characteristics recited in the foregoingobjects. A closely related object is to provide a sanitary pad which isflushable and yet possess good initial strength.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading thefollowing detailed description and upon reference to the drawings, inwhich:

bonding FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating an embodiment ofa bonded web prepared in accordance with the present invention and FIG.2 illustrates a sanitary napkin having the web illustrated in FIG. 1 asa cover therefore.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications andalternative constructions, there is shown in the drawings and willherein be described in detail the preferred embodiments. It is to beunderstood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention tothe specific forms disclosed. On the contrary, it is intended to coverall modifications and alternative constructions falling within thespirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

' Briefly stated, nonwoven materials according to the present inventionare prepared from webs containing customary staple length textile fibershaving a predominant direction of orientation. A distinctive pattern ofadhesive lines unites the staple length fibers together into a coherentnonwoven material. The adhesive lines are closely spaced together in thedirection of predominant fiber orientation and run continuously acrossthe web in a direction perpendicular thereto. In addition, thecontinuous adhesive lines are disposed uniformly over the web in aregularly repeating oscillating pattern 7 with particularly definedcharacteristics with respect to the relationship between the period ofoscillation, the adhesive line amplitude, and the spacing betweenadjacent adhesive lines.

Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a nonwoven material 10constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.The material contains a web of generally staple length fibers l2 havinga predominant direction of fiber orientation indicated by the arrow 0.Union of the web of staple length fibers into a coherent material isachieved by means ofa pattern of adhesive lines 14, the adhesive ofwhich, it will be understood, extends substantially through thethickness of the web. As illustrated, the adhesvie lines 14 have awidth, w, and are uniformly spaced apart in the direction of fiberorientation a distance s. The individual adhesive lines extendcontinuously across the web of staple length'fibers vl2 in the directionindicated by the arrow P which is'substantiallyperpendicular to thedirection of fiber orientation 0. Additionally, it can be seen that thelines of adhesive 14 are disposed uniformly over said web in a regularlyrepeating oscillating pattern of a generally nested herringboneconfiguration with the crests 16 of the lines I material, web bonding isachieved with a small quantity of adhesive, generally on the order ofabout 5-30 percent, based on the web weight,.and preferably only 5-15percent. To this end, the selection of the width w of the adhesive linesand their spacing s is important.

Regarding the spacing s between adjacent continuous lines of adhesive,such should be less than the average fiber length in order to insurethat the web fibers are attached between at least two adjacent lines ofadhesive to provide web coherency. It is preferred that the spacing besubstantially less than the average fiber length to provide forattachment of fibers between many adhesive lines. However, the spacingshould be not so close as to require excessive quantities of adhesivewhich can adversely affect softness and drapability of the bondedmaterial. With webs such as those prepared by carding staple textilefibers having a length of about one-half inch to 2.5 inches, linespacings of about 0.02-0.8 inch and preferably 0.04-0. 1 inch areuseful.

It is preferred that the adhesive line width w be as small as possibleand generally less than about one-half of the line spacing s. Aspreviously mentioned a desirable adhesive application technique is ofthe intaglio type wherein adhesive disposed in depressions on a printroll is directly transferred to the web. With such, the adhesivelinewidth w at a minimum will correspond to that minimum width on theadhesive print roll necessary to drain adhesive from the depressions oncontact with the web. Upon transfer, however, some adhesive spreadingcan occur. Adhesive line widths w of about 0.01 0.3 inch and preferably0.02 0.2 inch are useful.

To permit functionally useful web elongation in the directionperpendicular to that of predominant orientation without accompanyingmaterial rupture and adhesive disruption, it is important that theamplitude a of the adhesive lines be coordinated with the period ofoscillation p. To achieve useful elongations on the order of about 25percent or more, an amplitude to period ratio (a/p) of at least about0.5 is necessary. An amplitude to period ratio of about 0.8-1.2 affordsat least about 40 percent elongation and is preferred. At

ratios of less than about 0.5, insufficient elongation withoutaccompanying rupture is present to utilize the bonded materials inapplications such as sanitary napkinwrappers. Ratios in excess of about2 are generally not particularly useful due to the resulting presence ofexcessive quantities of adhesive. The actual period pof oscillation isof lesser importance than the relationship between the line amplitudeand the line period.

Periods, p, of about V4 1 inch across the perpendicular direction P aregenerally useful.

Still referring to FIG. I, the illustrated oscillating nestedconfiguration of the adhesive pattern is also important in achieving adesirable combination of stretch and strength in the indicated directionP. Regarding this aspect of the present invention, the adhesive lineamplitude, a, and the line spacing, s, are coordinated such thatadjacent continuous lines of adhesive are placedin a nestedconfiguration such as illustrated in FIG. 1. With adhesive line nesting,no continuous straight lines uninterrupted by adhesive exist across theperpendicular direction of the web. Thus, web failure in this directionmust be propagated along a tortuous path and this appears to contributeto the desirable strength characteristics of the web in the directionperpendicular to that of orientation. ln order to achieve nesting withthe above indicated useful amplitude to period ratios,'i.e., 0.5-2, theamplitude a is at least about 1.5-4 times the line spacing s withincreasing minimum values within the recited range being substantiallylinearly associated with increasing amplitude to period ratios.

So as not to result in the presence of excessively large quantities ofadhesive and so as to place a given line of adhesive in nestedconfiguration with only those two next adjacent lines, the lineamplitude a is preferably less than about 4-9.5 times the line spacing swith increasing maximum values within this recited range being againsubstantially linearly associated with larger amplitude to period ratioswithin the'indicated range of 0.5-2. With amplitude to periods ratioswithin the preferred range of 0.8-1.2, it is preferred to employ a lineamplitude of about 3-6 times the line spacing.

The use of the adhesive pattern having the particular characteristicsdescribed herein permits the preparation of nonwoven materials fromoriented staple length fibers which fully satisfy the aims andobjectives of the present invention. The necessary quantity of adhesiveis low and thus the materials are soft and drapable. The close spacingof the lines in the direction of predominant fiber orientation (normallythe lengthwise direction of the unbonded web) and the fact that thelines are continuous across the width of the material assures thatsubstantially all of the fibers will be adhesively attached together inthe oriented direction between at least two adjacent adhesive lines.Thus, as the material is strained in the direction of orientation, alarge number of fibers are available for simultaneous involvement in aload bearing capacity. In turn, the material exhibits a particularlyhigh strength in the direction of orientation over elongationscommensurate with the extensibility of the fibers employed. Also, thefact that a pattern with continuous adhesive lines across the web widthis used permits the achievement of sharply defined adhesively printedareas which contributes to material softness and drapability.

The regularly repeating oscillating pattern of adhesive lines whereinthe period, line amplitude, and line spacing are coordinated in themanner hereinafter above-discussed appears to be instrumental inachieving the indicated desirable strength and stretch characteristicsin the direction perpendicular to that of original fiber orientation. Asthe web is strained in the direction perpendicular to that oforientation, fiber realignment toward the direction of the appliedstrain appears to occur as elongation proceeds while the adhesive linesremain substantially in tact. Thus the fibers can support the appliedstrain and accompanying material rupture is avoided.

As concerns the principal aspects of the present invention, the type ofstaple length textile fiber employed in preparing useful webs is notparticularly important so long as adhesive bonding in the mannerindicated can be achieved. Cellulosic fibers such as rayon are desirablyused for the preparation of sanitary napkin wrappers and the like.However, other fibers such as those prepared from thermoplastic polymersor for that matter naturally occuring fibers can also be used.

As previously indicated webs prepared from fibers having lengths on theorder of about 2.5 inches can be easily prepared by known techniquessuch as card-' ing, garnetting, and drafting. The fibers in the webs soprepared have a predominant direction of fiber orientation. Thus,achieving the advantages of the present invention with respect to goodstrength and stretch characteristics in the direction opposed toorientation is generally applicable to such webs.

However, it appears that the present invention is particularly suitableto webs which, while having a predominant direction of fiberorientation, nevertheless have some fibers disposed away from thepredominant orientation direction. Carded webs are representative ofthis type, the webs generally containing only about 50-75 percent ofsubstantially parallely aligned fibers. The nested configuration of theadhesive lines in the presently illustrated pattern in combination with:type of adhesive used to effect bonding is not particularly important.A variety of adhesives such as acrylics, polyvinyl alcohols, plastisols,etc. can be employed. Adhesive selection can be influenced by theapplication technique used, and particularly by the viscosityrequirements of the desired technique. Adhesive selection canalsobeimportant when it is desired that the bonded material be dispersible inwater such as is required for flushable sanitary napkins.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an embodiment of a sanitarynapkin 18 prepared in accordance with the present invention. The napkin18 contains an inner core of absorbent material 20 such as cellulosicfluff or wadding and a cover 22 enclosing the inner core and providingend tabs 24 for the attachment of a belt or the like. In accordance withthe present invention, the cover 22 is a bonded nonwoven material suchas-illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein. the

direction of predominant fiber orientation is in alignment with thelength of the napkin and the continuous adhesive lines disposed in theillustrated pattern extend in the widthwise direction and around theinner core. The illustrated cover material having the previouslydiscussed desirable bi-directional strength characteristics can bereadily wrapped, without rupture, around the inner core and adhesivelysealed to enclose the core using conventional automatic sanitary napkinmanufacturing equipment. Thus, the use of the nonwoven materialillustrated herein is particularly suitable for-sanitary napkin covers.When so employed, carded webs preparedfrom rayon fibers having a basisweight (before adhesive application) of up to about 1 oz./yd.andpreferably about 0.3-0.6 oz./yd. are useful.

In addition, the use of sanitary napkin cover materials prepared inaccordance with the present invention is advantageous where napkinflushability is desired. It is recognized that the adhesiveused inbonding the cover for flushable napkin applications must be watersoluble so that the cover candisintegrate when subjected to gentleagitation in water. Cold water soluble adhesives such as polyvinylalcohols prepared from partially saponified polyvinyl acetate have beensuggested. The problem is to achieve adequate disintegration after theuse in combination with sufficient initial strength so that the coverdoes not also disintegrate when subjected to menstrual fluids in use andalso sufficient wrapper flexibility for comfort to the wearer. U.S.

Pat. No. 3,561,447 suggests the use ofa combination of adhesives.Furthermore, it has been noted that with some conventional bondingpatterns, the use of a polyvinyl alcohol adhesive alone without suitableplasticizers or the like can result in a somewhat stiff wrapper. The useof plasticizers can be undesirable since they tend to weaken theadhesive thus further contributing to the covers lack of strength.However, it

has been found that with webs bonded with the present pattern, apolyvinyl alcohol adhesive can be used, and that the webs so preparedare soft and drapable and have sufficient initial strength to permittheir successful a use as flushable napkin wrappers.

The explanation for this unexpected utility can be found in theconfiguration of the pattern employed. As has been mentioned, the use ofthe pattern results in improved strength characteristics which aremanifested in imparting the necessary strength to the web. The fact thatthe normally brittle polyvinyl alcohol adhesive does not lead to anundesirable stiffness appears to be principally attributable to theoscillating pattern employed'which provides a desirable elasticity.

To further illustrate the present invention, a web 14 grms./yd. of rayonfibers having an average fiber length of about l-9/l6 inches (range of 1/2 inches to 1% inches) was formed by carding and bonded with anadhesive pattern such as illustrated in FIG. 1 having the followingcharacteristics:

s= 0. 10inch w= 0.04 inch a 0.45 inch p= 0.50 inch polyvinyl alcoholadhesive (89 percent hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate 4 percent aqueous sol.visc. 22 cps. PVA 523 AIRCO") was used and applied to the web at aviscosity of 400 cps. The bonded web contained about 1 grm/yd. ofadhesive. Web drying was accomplished at 320F. The web so prepared hadthe following characteristics: Instron 1 X 2 inch samples 2 cm/min. (MD)and 5 cm/min. (CD) Tensile strength (inch-lbs.) 5.5 0.3]

' Elongation Machine Direction 4 Cross Direction 50 The bonded materialprepared as illustrated above is very suitable as a' sanitary napkincover. With this cover material, sanitary napkins can be commerciallyprepared using conventional equipment without rupture of the coverduring automatic wrapping thereof around the absorbent inner core.

I claim as my invention:

1. A soft, drapable nonwoven material having good bi-directionalstrength-stretch characteristics comprising, in combination, a web ofstaple length fibers having 'a predominant direction of fiberorientation and a pattern of adhesive lines serving to unite the fiberstogether into a coherent nonwoven material with said adhesive beingabout -30 percent of the web weight, said lines of adhesive beinguniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientation less than anaverage fiber length apart, having a width of less than about one-halfthe line spacing, and extending continuously across said web generallyperpendicular to the direction of predominant fiber orientation thussimultaneously involving a substantial number of fibers in a loadbearing capacity when the'web is strained in the direction oforientation, said lines of adhesive being further disposed uniformlyover said web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern with thecrests thereof pointed in the direction of predominant fiber orientationand characterized by the combination of (l) a period of about /4 1 inch,(2) a line amplitude of at least about 1.5-4 times the line spacing toplace said lines in nested configuration, and (3) an amplitude to periodratio of about 0.5-2 so that, as the web is strained in the directionperpendicular to that of original orientation,

fiber realignment occurs without accompanying adhesive disruption thuspermitting the fibers to bear the so applied strain over elongations ofat least about 25 percent.

2. The material of claim 1 wherein the fibers have a length of about 1%2.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.02 0.8 inch, and theadhesive line width is about 0.01 0.3 inch.

3. The material of claim 1 wherein the fibers have a length of about 1%2.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.04 0.4 inch, and theadhesive line width is about 0.02 0.2 inch.

4. The material of claim 1 wherein the adhesive line amplitude is lessthan about 49.5 times the adhesive line spacing.

5. The material ofclaim 4 wherein the amplitude to period ratio is about0.8 1 .2 and the amplitude is about 3-6 times the line spacing.

6. The material of claim 5 wherein the fibers have a length of about 2.5inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.02- 0.8 inch, and theadhesive line width is about 0.01 0.3 inch.

7. The material of claim 6 wherein the web of staple length fibers has abasis weight of about 0.3 0.6 0z./yd. and wherein the adhesive is about5-15 percent of the web weight.

8. The material of claim 7 wherein the fibers have a length of about /22.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.04 0.4 inch, and theadhesive line width is about 0.02 0.2 inch.

9. The material of claim 8 wherein the web of staple length fibers is acarded web.

10. A sanitary napkin containing an elongated absorbent inner core andas a cover therefore a nonwoven material comprising, in combination 1) aweb having a basis weight of up to about 1 oz./yd. of staple lengthfibers with a predominant direction of fiber orientation in thelengthwise direction of the inner core and (II) a pattern of adhesivelines serving to unite the fibers together into a coherent material withsaid adhesive being about 5-30 percent of the web weight, said lines ofadhesive being uniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientationless than an average fiber length apart, having a width of less thanabout one-half the line spacing, and extending continuously across saidweb generally perpendicular to the direction of predominant fiberorientation, said lines of adhesive being further disposed uniformlyover said web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern ,with thecrests thereof pointed in the direction of predominant fiber orientationand characterized by the combination of l a period of about A 1 inch,(2) a line amplitude of at least about 1.5-4 times the line spacing toplace said lines in nested configuration, and (3) an amplitude to periodratio of about 0.5-2.

11 The sanitary napkin ofclaim 10 wherein the adhesive line amplitude isless than about 4-9.5 times the adhesive line spacing. I

12. The sanitary napkin of claim 11 wherein the amplitude to periodratio is about 0.8-1.2 and the amplitude is about 3-6 times the linespacing.

13. The sanitary napkin of claim 12 wherein the fibers have a length ofabout /2 2.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.02 0.8 inch,and the adhesive line width is about 0.01 0.3 inch.

14. The sanitary napkin of claim 13 wherein the fibers have a length ofabout A 2.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.04 0.4 inch,and the adhesive line width is about 0.02 0.2 inch. I

15. The sanitary napkin of claim 14 wherein the web of staple lengthfibers is a carded web having a basis weight of about 0.3 0.6 oz./yd.

16. The sanitary napkin of claim 15 wherein the adhesive is about 5-15percent of the web weight.

17. The sanitary napkin of claim 16 wherein the adhesive is polyvinylalcohol.

1. A soft, drapable nonwoven material having good bi-directionalstrength-stretch characteristics comprising, in combination, a web ofstaple length fibers having a predominant direction of fiber orientationand a pattern of adhesive lines serving to unite the fibers togetherinto a coherent nonwoven material with said adhesive being about 5-30percent of the web weight, said lines of adhesive being uniformly spacedin the direction of fiber orientation less than an average fiber lengthapart, having a width of less than about one-half the line spacing, andextending continuously across said web generally perpendicular to thedirection of predominant fiber orientation thus simultaneously involvinga substantial number of fibers in a load bearing capacity when the webis strained in the direction of orientation, said lines of adhesivebeing further disposed uniformly over said web in a regularly repeatingoscillating pattern with the crests thereof pointed in the direction ofpredominant fiber orientation and characterized by the combination of(1) a period of about 1/4 - 1 inch, (2) a line amplitude of at leastabout 1.5-4 times the line spacing to place said lines in nestedconfiguration, and (3) an amplitude to period ratio of about 0.5-2 sothat, as the web is strained in the direction perpendicular to that oforiginal orientation, fiber realignment occurs without accompanyingadhesive disruption thus permitting the fibers to bear the so appliedstrain over elongations of at least about 25 percent.
 2. The material ofclaim 1 wherein the fibers have a length of about 1/2 - 2.5 inches, theadhesive line spacing is about 0.02 - 0.8 inch, and the adhesive linewidth is about 0.01 - 0.3 inch.
 3. The material of claim 1 wherein thefibers have a length of about 1/2 - 2.5 inches, the adhesive linespacing is about 0.04 - 0.4 inch, and the adhesive line width is about0.02 - 0.2 inch.
 4. The material of claim 1 wherein the adhesive lineamplitude is less than about 4-9.5 times the adhesive line spacing. 5.The material of claim 4 wherein the amplitude to period ratio is about0.8-1.2 and the amplitude is about 3-6 times the line spacing.
 6. Thematerial of claim 5 wherein the fibers have a length of about 1/2 - 2.5inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.02 - 0.8 inch, and theadhesive line width is about 0.01 - 0.3 inch.
 7. The material of claim 6wherein the web of staple length fibers has a basis weight of about0.3 - 0.6 oz./yd.2 and wherein the adhesive is about 5-15 percent of theweb weight.
 8. The material of claim 7 wherein the fibers have a lengthof about 1/2 - 2.5 inches, the adhesive line spacing is about 0.04 - 0.4inch, and the adhesive line width is about 0.02 - 0.2 inch.
 9. Thematerial of claim 8 wherein the web of staple length fibers is a cardedweb.
 10. A sanitary napkin containing an elongated absorbent inner coreand as a cover therefore a nonwoven material comprising, in combination,(I) a web having a basis weight of up to about 1 oz./yd.2 of staplelength fibers with a predominant direction of fiber orientation in thelengthwise direction of the inner core and (II) a pattern of adhesivelines serving to unite the fibers together into a coherent material withsaid adhesive being about 5-30 percent of the web weight, said lines ofadhesive being uniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientationless than an average fiber length apart, having a width of less thanabout one-half the line spacing, and extending continuously across saidweb generally perpendicular to the direction of predominant fiberorientation, said lines of adhesive being further disposed uniformlyover said web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern with thecrests thereof pointed in the direction of predominant fiber orientationand characterized by the combination of (1) a period of about 1/4 - 1inch, (2) a line amplitude of at least about 1.5-4 times the linespacing to place said lines in nested configuration, and (3) anamplitude to period ratio of about 0.5-2.
 11. The sanitary napkin ofclaim 10 wherein the adhesive line amplitude is less than about 4-9.5times the adhesive line spacing.
 12. The sanitary napkin of claim 11wherein the amplitude to period ratio is about 0.8-1.2 and the amplitudeis about 3-6 times the line spacing.
 13. The sanitary napkin of claim 12wherein the fibers have a length of about 1/2 - 2.5 inches, the adhesiveline spacing is about 0.02 - 0.8 inch, and the adhesive line width isabout 0.01 - 0.3 inch.
 14. The sanitary napkin of claim 13 wherein thefibers have a length of about 1/2 - 2.5 inches, the adhesive linespacing is about 0.04 - 0.4 inch, and the adhesive line width is about0.02 - 0.2 inch.
 15. The sanitary napkin of claim 14 wherein the web ofstaple length fibers is a carded web having a basis weight of about0.3 - 0.6 oz./yd.2.
 16. The sanitary napkin of claim 15 wherein theadhesive is about 5-15 percent of the web weight.
 17. The sanitarynapkin of claim 16 wherein the adhesive is polyvinyl alcohol.